Sleeve construction



July 4, 1950 W. W. BERMAN SLEEVE CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24, 1947 I INVENTOR Eff/1am ifjarmaw ATTORNEY July 4, 1950 w. w. BERMAN SLEEVE CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24, 1947 INVENTOR William W jig/1mm ATTO R N EY Patented July 4, 1950 TED STATES: r

OQFFI'C'E) 2 Claims.

.14 This invention relates to an improvement'in sleeve construction for coats, jackets and blouses, and has as a main objective the provision of meansfor securing the sleeves to the garment in a manner which provides complete freedom l of arm movement while always maintaining a neater and trimmer appearance than the conventional action back or free swing construction.

It is an object of the inventionto provide a sleeve construction having at the armscye a pleat which serves over substantially more than 180 degrees of the armscye periphery as the solemeans for securing the sleeve 'tothe coat body.

It is yet another object of the inventionto provide an inverted pleat at the armscye ofxa garment, said pleat being secured to the body portion of thegarment by anelastictape which extends in a line which is a continuation of the vertical diameter of the armscye;

It is a further object of the invention-to-provide an inverted pleat at the armscye ofagar-- ment, resiliently attached to said garment by an elastic tape secured to the lowermost, edge j of the pleat and acting in 'a'direction whichtis a continuation of the Vertical diameterof said armscye,- the pleat having a line oflstiliening across its face and also in said diametrical, line, whereby the pull of said tape is distributed. across the pleat from the bottom to the top edge thereof.

It is an object of the invention to provide i an improved sleeve construction includingexpansion members formed from individual arcuate elements sewn together along a seam substantially in line with a side seam of the body of the garment, and elastically secured thereto l-by an elastic tape or the like which extends from the lowermost edge of said first-named seam tothe side seam of the garment, whereby the tape and the respective seams areina continuous line.

The expansion pleat by means of which the sleeve is secured to the garment preferably comprises a pair of arcuate layers of material disposed one on the other and securedtogether along the lowermost convex edges. The point of maximum width of said layers, when attached to the garment, is in line with the verticaldiameter of the armscye, and at such point I prefer to provide a line of stiffening or reeniorcement'which also is inline with said -.diameter. Such stiffening may be a tape stitched across the respective layers of material, a self-fold of 2" 'eachlayer 'of material to provide a narrow multilayer strip stitched along its margins, or each of saldple'at members may be made of a pair of pieces of material stitched together along a straight seam in line with the armscye diameter. V The thus formed pleat is secured at its extremities to the body 'of the garment at the shoulder area. Said shoulder area preferably comprises substantially less than ninety degrees on each side of the vertical diameter of the 'armscye. The concave edge of one of the pleat members is stitched to the edge of the 'armscye throughout the remainder of its circumference, and the corresponding concave edge of the other pleat stormingmember is stitched to the end of thesleeve. The pleat is elastically secured to the bodydfxthe garment by'an-elastic tape, one endoi whichis joined to the lowermost end of the stiffening seam or fold of the pleat, and extends in a'direct line therewith, so that the .armscye diameter, the aforesaid line of stiffening of the, pleat, and the tape are in a continuous line. The other end of the tape attaches to the body oi'the garment.

The advantage of such construction is that thegpull of the elastic tape is distributed across thegiull iwidtl'r of :the respective pleat forming members, and when the, arm of the sleeve is in vertically 'raisedposition, representing the most severestrainuon the joinder of the sleeve and the garment, there is a direct downward :pull exertedby the elastic tape which willeffectively hold the pleat from everting and willdraw the pleat downwardly, when the arm is lowered, to its normal concealed position. I

Irrthe accompanying drawings:

Fig. -l isa disassembledplan view of the re spective elements which collectively; comprise the shoulder, yoke 'body and sleeve portion .of a

garment, and the expansion pleat embodying the presentinvention;

Fig 2 is a vertical; elevation, looking from the inside of the garment toward the armhole, showing the assembled construction and the alignment of the elastic tape when in relaxed ,posito illustrate the action of the underarm pleat and the elastic securement means thereof; and

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating the position of the pleat as the sleeve returns to normal position.

Referring first to Fig. 3, the garment is illustrated as of a sports jacket type, with the body portion ID, a shoulder yoke II and sleeves I2. The body portion has the usual side seam I4 delineating between the front and back thereof, and an armscye [5. The armscye, as distinguished from the conventional action back garment, is not larger than that of conventional fixed sleeve garments.

It will be noted from Fig. 2 that the upper arcuate portion of the armscye is defined by the end of the shoulder yoke, and that such arcuate portion comprehends substantially less than 90 degrees at each side of the vertical armscye diameter D. The sleeve I2 is secured directly to the body of the garment only at the shoulder yoke. It will be understood that shoulder yoke and shoulder portion are used synonymously, because all garments may not have a shoulder yoke construction. In such latter garments, the shoulder portion of the armscye is considered to comprehend the same arc as described above, and the sleeve is aflixed to said garment along said arc.

In Fig. 1, the disassembled elements mixing up one side of the garment include the front and back panels liiF and NIB, the yoke section H and the sleeve [2. The shoulder arc of the armscye is designated IS. The sleeve is formed by stitching together the edges [2A and I2B; the resultant seam I3 is under the arm, and when the sleeve hangs normally downwardly, the side seam M of the garment and the sleeve seam [3 are one over the other, and are in line with the armscye diameter D. The portion l6 of the sleeve is stitched to the shoulder portion line i6. About the remainder of the armscye, the sleeve is secured by means of an inverted pleat or fold l1, comprising two arcuate elements placed one on the other, and stitched together along their matching convex edges. Advantages, as later described, accrue from forming each element of two pieces; hence the outer, or sleeve-attached, element comprises pieces l8 and I9, and the inner, or armscye-attached element comprises pieces 20 and 2|.

The inner element is narrower, in its central portion, than the sleeve-attached element, because the armscye diameter is slightly more than the sleeve-end diameter.

The pieces [8 and [9 are stitched together at their ends 22, 23, and similarly, the inner pieces 2!) and 2| are stitched at the ends 24, 25. There are thus formed two seams 26, 2! respectively, which provide narrow, multi-layer strips extending substantially vertically across each layer of the pleat. The end edges of the respective pleat elements are sewed to provide seams 28, 29.

As thus assembled, the concave edge of the inner element is then stitched to the armscye, and the corresponding edge of the outer element is stitched to the sleeve, in each case, the stitching extending over the arc defined from one to the other of the yoke seams. The seams 28 and 29 respectively attach to the front and rear transversely extending yoke seams, and join therewith for a distance of about one and one half inches.

In the assembled garment, the seams 26 and 21 lie on a continuation of the diameter D. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the seam 26 is afiixed to and is in a continuous line with, the sleeve seam [3.

To insure that the pleat l1 remains neatly folded in concealed position when the garment sleeve is at rest, and returns to folded position when the arm is lowered from a raised to a normal position, I prefer to use an elastic strip or tape 30 which afiixes at one end to the bottom edge of the seams 26 and 21, and to the body of the garment by stitching at the side seam H. The line of action of the elastic tape 30 is in line with the side seam l4 and the arm seam I3. The seams 25 and 21 distribute the pull of the elastic across the width of the pleat elements. The tape is preferably not strongly elastic, so that it swings or rotates freely about its point of securement to the body of the garment for all forward or rear arm movements.

If desired, two single pieces of material may be used to form the pleat elements and a tape or the like may be stitched across each face thereof in the aforesaid relationship with the armscye diameter. A third method of providing the desirable stiffness is to make the pleat elements slightly longer than required, and to fold them in a narrow Z-fold at the proper location, stitching along the side margins of said fold to provide the multi-layer area.

The action of the sleeve construction is illustrated best in Figs. 6 and '7, in which Fig. 6 shows the partial outward movement of the bellows and the extension of the elastic while the arm is raised and Fig. 7 illustrates the return to normal position upon lowering the arm. The pleat and the elastic tape freely accommodate all arm movements, with complete absence of binding. The pull of the elastic tape in the direction of the armscye diameter entirely prevents eversion of the pleat when the arm is raised upwardly, and inevitably returns the pleat entirely within the garment when the arm is lowered to normal from any position.

It will be understood that the garment may be provided with any necessary or desirable lining for concealment of the pleat and the elastic securement. Said lining will not be afiixed to the pleat and hence will not restrict the action thereof.

Although the invention has been described by making a fully detailed reference to a certain presently preferred embodiment, such detail of description is to be understood in an instructive rather than a limiting sense, many changes being possible within the scope of the claims hereto appended.

I claim:

I. In a garment including a body portion, an armscye in said body portion, a sleeve, a double layer pleat attaching said sleeve to said body portion through a portion of the circumference of said armscye and a pair of substantially arcuate members fastened together along their convex edges to form said double layer pleat, the combination of a pair of individual, tapered sectors fastened together to make up each of said arcuate members, a narrow end and a broad end for each of said tapered sectors, a first edge of each of said sector-s lateral to the curved edges of said sector and transversing the broad end of said sector to terminate said sector, a junction fastening together the broad terminal ends of said pairs of tapered sectors to form said arcuate members with narrow, outer ends, a pair of sec- 0nd edges on each of said arcuate members lateral to the curved edges of said members and transversing its narrow, outer ends to terminate said sector, fa-stenings attaching said second edges of each of said arcuate members to said body portion projected on lines at an angle to the plane of the armscye laterally across said body portion from points on the armscye circumference above the middle of the armscye, a first are through an upper portion of said armscye circumference extending between and above said points of projection, a second are through a lower portion of said armscye circumference extending between and below said points of projection, means fastenin a portion of the sleeve to the concave edge of one of the arcuate members of said double layer pleat, means fastening the remaining portion of the sleeve to said first arc of the armscye circumference, means fastening the concave edge of the other arcuate member along said second arc of the armscye circumference, a stiffened portion extending laterally across each of said arcuate members, said stiffened portions parallel to each other and conjoined at the fastening together of the members along their convex edges and elastic means consisting solely of a single width of relatively weak elastic material fastened between the convex edge of said double layer pleat and said body portion at a point below said armscye whereby the sleeve is hingedly connected to the body portion through the upper arc and through the double layer pleat, while the pleat is in turn suspended on said lines of fastening said second terminal edges to said body portion above the middle of the armscye and from which lines of fastening the double layer pleat expands out into a wide strip forming a connection between the part of the sleeve which is not hinged on the arc and the body portion.

2. In a garment providing a greater freedom of arm movement having a, body portion, a sleeve, an armscye in said body portion, a double layer pleat attaching said sleeve to said body portion through a portion of the circumference of said armscye, the combination of a first arcuate member and a second arcuate member smaller in outline than said first arcuate member, said arcuate members fastened together along their convex edges to provide said double layer pleat, a first tapered sector and a second separate tapered sector smaller in outline than said first sector making up each of said arcuate members, a narrow end and a broad end for each of said tapered sectors, a first lateral edge of each of said sectors transversing the broad end of said sector to terminate said sectors, a junction fastening together said first lateral edges of the first and second tapered sectors of each arcuate member to form said arcuate member, a second lateral edge of said arcuate members transversing its narrow end to terminate said sectors, lines of fastening said second lateral edges to said body portion projected at an angle to the plane of the armscye laterally across said body portion from points on the armscye circumference above the middle of the armscye, a first are through an upper portion of said armscye circumference extending between and above said points of projection, a second are through a lower portion of said armscye circumference extending between and below said points of projection, means fastening a portion of the sleeve to the concave edge of said first arcuate member in said double layer pleat, means fastening the remaining portion of the sleeve to said first arc of the armscye circumference, means fastening the concave edge of the second arcuate member along said second arc of the armscye circumference, a stiffened portion extending laterally across each of said arcuate members, said stiffened portions parallel to each other and conjoined at the fastening together of the members along their convex edges and elastic means consisting solely of a single width of relatively weak elastic material fastened between the convex edge of said double layer pleat and said body portion at a point below said armscye whereby the sleeve is hingedly connected to the body portion through the upper arc and through the double layer pleat, while the pleat is in turn suspended on said lines of fastening said second terminal edges to said body portion above the middle of the armscye and from which lines of fastening the double layer pleat expands out into a wide strip forming a connection between the part of the sleeve which is not hinged on the arc and the body portion.

WILLIAM W. BERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,743,082 Hart Jan. 7, 1930 2,270,435 Hansen Jan. 20, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 5,978 Great Britain of 1891 16,194 Great Britain of 1905- 

